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Slow Mac, what can make it faster?

Started by Will, Wed, 22 Jan 2020 21:09

Will

I run PSX on a mid-2010 Mac and despite its longevity, the computer still handles PSX without any trouble - excellent frame rates, no lag on loading menus and 9pack views, etc.

But in many other areas, especially loading and starting programs, the computer is getting pretty slow. For example, yesterday I pulled out the stop watch (well, the stopwatch app on my phone, of course) and timed how long it took to wake the computer from sleep, load a blank Word document, and start typing. The answer: 4 minutes, 45 seconds, before I could type a single character on a new, blank document. This is much slower than the early-2015 MacBook Pro that I'm typing this on now, which makes the same benchmark in 16 seconds.

I figure the knowledge base amongst this crowd will give me a more accurate answer than just throwing the question out to the Internet. So here it is: how can I speed up my old Mac? Where is the biggest bang for the buck?

+ Should I make a minimum of ___% hard drive space free? (If so, what is that number?)
+ Should I delete apps that I don't use?
+ Should I prevent certain processes from running in the background? (This seems complicated but may be the issue.)
+ Is there an optimization scheme that pays off? (Windows users often seem to talk about rebuilding the registry...)

Thoughts? Thanks.
Will /Chicago /USA

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

I bet the major issue is that your old Mac has much less memory (RAM, not disk) than is required to load the operating system and Word and what else you need. So it starts swapping to disk, just as if you would want to cook an extensive meal on a one-hub range and keep shuttling pans around. It will take an eternity for anything to cook.

Your OS probably can tell you how much RAM you have installed and how much is actually being used.

I don't know MacOS but at this moment, I bet that 16 GB is a reasonable requirement and you have 4.


Hoppie


Will

Thanks. I just checked, and I have 8 GB RAM, although my problem could still be that I don't have more.

To check the RAM I have, I hit the "Apple" symbol in the upper left corner, then "About this Mac," and then "Memory." Between clicking on the Apple symbol and getting the dropdown menu, I saw the multicolored spinning beach ball for 12 seconds. This seems excessive.

On my 2015 MacBook Pro, the delay between clicking on the Apple symbol and getting the menu is less than 1 second, and there isn't time for the beach ball to even appear.

One thing is for certain: for whatever reason, the 2010 Mac has serious delays compared to its cousin from 2015.

Of note, once a program is loaded in the 2010 machine, it works without delay, which I guess is how I can run PSX with high frame rates (typically in the 60's). It's only loading and running new programs, or switching between programs, where the delay shows up.

By the way, on my 2010 machine, the time between clicking on AerowinxStart.jar and PSX being ready to use is 1 minute, 26 seconds. Is that slow, or close to normal? (I can't test PSX on my 2015 Macbook Pro because PSX isn't installed there.)
Will /Chicago /USA

Hardy Heinlin

Not normal.

My 2013 iMac with 8 GB needs just 17 seconds to start PSX 10.93. And this is while my desktop is cluttered with dozens of big Adobe programs, software IDE, and many Firefox tabs.

My 2009 iMac used to start PSX in less than 10 seconds. But that was with earlier Java versions and former PSX versions.

However, sometimes my OSX gets slow as well, indeed. I suspect Firefox causes it when it's been running for a week or so. Rebooting OSX will clean it up. (Rebooting OSX in less than 20 seconds.)


Regards,

|-|ardy

Will

Hardy,

Thanks, I did not think it was normal. It certainly isn't normal to take 4 minutes to load Word, either.

I'll just repeat for what it's worth that my Mac's slowness seems to be in loading and starting programs, or loading portions of programs, as opposed to running programs once they're set up. For example, PSX takes 1 min 26 seconds to load, but then runs perfectly well with high frame rates, no stutters, no pauses, etc.

Word takes 4 minutes to load and then runs well except when I want to change a font (15 second delay) or print (25 second delay). I'm guessing these activities call massive routines that take a long time to get put into memory.

Will /Chicago /USA

Hardy Heinlin

I remember you had a Cloud problem some years ago. Do you load any program files from a Cloud and do you think they are on your local disk because the Mac doesn't tell you where the files really are?

Ton van Bochove

Maybe you should consider a fresh install and see what happens than.
Ton

Roddez

Gravity - usually makes anything faster.
Rodney Redwin
YSSY
www.simulatorsolutions.com.au

brian747

#9
Hi, Will!

Sorry to hear about your problem. Also, I should preface these remarks by saying that I know nothing of Macs, the nearest I get being when my wife struggles with her iPad. So caveat emptor....

But I do (or did, before I retired) know about performance tuning, mostly on large -ix boxes as used in banks and government departments, and also on Windows servers — but not Macs: so what follows is very much a case of "for what it's worth"....

(Incidentally, you say you have "a mid-2010 Mac" with 8Gb of memory. Last week I worked to rescue and bring back into service a seven year old Windoze machine which is still being used by a local charity: all I can say is that I hope your ten year old Mac has aged more gracefully than that one had done.... But I digress).

1. More to the point, you said —

Quote...once a program is loaded in the 2010 machine, it works without delay... It's only loading and running new programs, or switching between programs, where the delay shows up.

Ah. To me, that would suggest that the bottleneck is in your disk department rather than anywhere else: once everything has finished loading into memory you're OK, so it sounds as though your memory and CPU are working normally. But slow loading times of that order could be indicative of a disk that is starting to fail, since under those conditions the disk firmware will retry repeatedly, thus causing long waits until the failing sectors are read successfully.     

And <*cough*> if that is the case here, it's usually, I have to say, a prelude to the point at which retries are no longer able to retrieve a sector or sectors — you then receive an I/O error and need to replace the disk. (How are your backups? I would gently suggest making a current and comprehensive one *now*, just in case: it can't do any harm, but if the disk really is failing it might save you some grief, later).

2. In your OP you asked "Should I make a minimum of ___% hard drive space free? (If so, what is that number?)". The usual rule of thumb for Windoze and -ix machines is to use no more than 90% of the disk, since those operating systems require some scratch space for their own internal nefarious purposes. Macs might work in a similar way...?

3. Also, you asked "Should I delete apps that I don't use?". I have noticed that every now and then on my wife's iPad I have to clear out large numbers of photos and lots of apps which have gradually accumulated in memory, at which point the thing became unresponsive. I realise that your machine hasn't reached that point, and anyway presumably it stores your apps on disk: I only mention this in case it might perhaps be a hint about how Apple O/Ss work?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just a few observations — I'm sorry I can't be more specifically helpful,

Cheers,

Brian
(Author of "The Big Tutorial" for PS1, and "Getting started with PSX" Parts 1, 2, and 3).

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Brian: for most practical purposes, MacOS nowadays is -ix. They went that road quite a while ago. It's a derivative of BSD if I remember well (don't believe me).

Next to a disk I/O error, which definitely is a possibiliy, thrashing virtual memory still is another thing that can cause this. Making space and then when the working set is stable, it all works fine. Until something needs to move again.

Will -- can you look at "memory usage"? Usuall with nice pie chart graphs. How much of your 8 Gb is used and how much is free?

Hoppie

brian747

#11
Hi, Hoppie!

Quote...for most practical purposes, MacOS nowadays is -ix.

Ah, thank you. That could explain Apple's alleged reliability, then.        

QuoteNext to a disk I/O error, which definitely is a possibiliy, thrashing virtual memory still is another thing that can cause this.

I agree, it certainly could. (Especially if the disk being thrashed by the paging and swapping was experiencing problems, or was just too full). It was simply that, in view of the length of time that Will mentions, my suspicion (having experienced this phenomenon too many times) was that a disk controller problem seemed (!?) more likely, but hey....     

Remote diagnosis was ever a tenuous and uncertain art. As I used to say to the innocently hopeful voices over the phone, "Your screen's a bit fuzzy, from here...".     

I will step aside and leave the discussion to the Apple experts.     

Cheers,

Brian
(Author of "The Big Tutorial" for PS1, and "Getting started with PSX" Parts 1, 2, and 3).

Will

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have an opportunity to look at it again later this afternoon.
Will /Chicago /USA

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Quote from: brian747 on Thu, 23 Jan 2020 13:36
Remote diagnosis was ever a tenuous and uncertain art. As I used to say to the innocently hopeful voices over the phone, "Your screen's a bit fuzzy, from here...".

*cry* try remote diagnosis of an airplane installation where all you get is an EICAS photo (but very sharp!) saying "SATCOM" in yellow.


Hoppie

brian747

<wince>  Yup, that's definitely a "challenge".     

All these jobs would be great — if it wasn't for the customers....   <sigh>

Cheers,

Brian
(Author of "The Big Tutorial" for PS1, and "Getting started with PSX" Parts 1, 2, and 3).

Will

A while back, while traveling, I went to a rental car place to pick up a car. The computer system was apparently malfunctioning. The sales clerk told me he was going to call "technical support" to get the computer fixed. He dialed, was on hold for a while, and then described the situation to the person on the other end of the call. Then his tech support team started giving him advice, and this was the clerk's end of the conversation:

CLERK: "Okay, so I press Control, and while that is pressed, I also press, what is it, Alt?"

(pause)

CLERK: "Okay, I pressed Control, and I'm pressing Alt, now what do I press?"

(pause)

CLERK: "What, all three at the same time?"
Will /Chicago /USA

Martin Baker


Will

#17
I checked hard drive capacity and I have about 10% free, more or less.

It could be the case that slow drive access is the problem - Brian, I think that would fit the symptoms well.

Let's say, hypothetically, that it makes more sense to replace the computer than to take to to Apple and try and upgrade the hardware inside.

Let's also say, hypothetically, that I want to replace it with another Mac.

If I clone this machine onto a new machine, what are the chances that I'll just port my problem over to the new Mac? Obviously the chance is zero if a failing hard drive is the problem. But if it's a memory utilization issue, or an optimization issue, would those problems just be transported to the new platform?

Is cloning an old machine a bad idea? Should it always be a fresh start? (Reinstalling favorite software from scratch, for instance.)

And this of course begs the question of whether I should buy a new Mac. Since this machine is used only for PSX and PSX-related activities these days, maybe I should buy a cheaper Windows device?

I just don't want to spend a lot of money just to have the same problem continue.
Will /Chicago /USA

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Quote from: Will on Fri, 24 Jan 2020 22:37
Is cloning an old machine a bad idea? Should it always be a fresh start?

There are cases where cloning an old machine makes sense, but I would not try that in this case.

You most likely need a significantly newer OS and upgrades of some other software like Office. Just do it.

I bet the actual files you need, content, are limited. And you can always share these on your home network so you have a convenient copy option. Let the machines run overnight and hey, presto.

As for the Mac vs Windows question -- Windows definitely can be cheaper and for PSX is about the same, but it remains a matter of taste. Windows 10 is your only choice and though it slowly moves towards MacOS, it isn't yet.


Hoppie

Martin Baker

In 2012 a colleague of mine and I upgraded from older iMacs to identical new iMacs. I opted for a clean start, whilst my colleague used the Apple tansfer-across facility. My 2012 iMac (now on Mojave) still runs beautifully but my colleague has had nothing but trouble from the start - slow running, spinning ball of death, etc.

My advice would be to transfer the necessary files from your current Mac to Dropbox, Google, iCloud etc, and start afresh.

M